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Calvert County Board of Education votes to request state waiver after Feb. 13 snow day
Summary
The Calvert County Board of Education voted to submit a waiver request to the Maryland State Department of Education after a Feb. 13 inclement-weather school closing, asking permission to avoid adding a Monday at the end of the school year to meet the 180-day requirement.
The Calvert County Board of Education voted to submit a waiver request to the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) to avoid moving the last student day into a Monday after a Feb. 13 inclement-weather closing.
Chief Academic Officer Jackie Jacobs briefed the board on the impact of the missed day and the district’s options for making up time. Jacobs said the district must meet the 180-day requirement under state regulation and noted the district is also bound by a minimum-hours requirement. "We are required to go a hundred and 80 days based on COMAR," Jacobs told the board.
The district’s approved 2024–25 calendar already lists three inclement-weather makeup days: March 31, June 12 and June 13. Because Feb. 13 is a closure day that would otherwise push the final student day to Monday, June 16, Jacobs recommended the board submit a waiver to MSDE that would allow the district to end the school year on the preceding Friday rather than adding the Monday. The waiver must be filed within 10 days of reopening; board discussion identified Feb. 22 as the submission deadline.
Board members discussed contingency plans in case additional closures occur after the waiver request is submitted. Staff told the board that if MSDE approves a waiver tied to the last day falling on a Monday, a later closure that changes the calendar could nullify the waiver; in that event the district would need to designate a different makeup day such as taking a day during spring recess or using a holiday, both of which can require MSDE approval.
A motion to submit the waiver request was made by a board member and seconded; the motion carried on a voice vote. The board did not record individual roll-call tallies in the meeting minutes for that motion. Board members also left the three designated makeup days on the calendar and discussed whether to announce in advance that future makeups could be taken from spring recess to give families earlier notice.
Next steps: staff will file the closure notification and waiver with MSDE within the required 10-day window and return to the board if MSDE’s response or additional inclement weather requires the board to select specific alternate makeup days.
